The Big Picture: EU Puppet Show

The Big Picture: The EU Puppet Show

Directed by Alekandr Avilov (2025)

Film Review

https://en.rtdoc.tv/films/2104-the-big-picture-eu-puppet-show

This documentary begins with an observation by the late Henry Kissinger that current European leaders lack the vision of former leaders, such as De Gaulle, Willie Brandt, Helmut Kohl, Jack Chirac or Schoeder. It then shows a clip of Putin echoing these sentiments, stating the continent’s current leaders are a “disaster for Europe.”

Host Jelena Norkunaite explores these observations with Aleksey Zubets, director of the Centre for Social Economics Research, and Nikolay Novik, deputy director of the Institute of World Military Economics and Strategy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. Their dialogue is interspersed with humorous clips of the leaders they discuss. At least three are of Boris Johnson riding his bicycle.

Both agree on the following analysis:

Current European leaders are merely front men – “hand puppets” or “cardboard figures” with limited education. Their main purpose is to push the agenda of the “real leaders” and secure votes for a “shadow state” where the real power lie. Both agree that people in modern society find it hard to vote for someone smarter than they are. Also that the US deep state has significant influence over European appointments.

They focus mainly on the example on Ursula van der Leyen. In addition to being president of the EU Commission, van der Leyen is Germany’s defense minister. As she clearly knows nothing about running an army (she’s a gynecologist), her main role is lobbying for for US and German defense contractors.

As president of the EU commission, she plays a major role in setting EU policies and managing the EU budget. She has also issued a decree forbidding Slovakia’s prime minister from meeting with Trump. Prior to Trump’s election in 2024, the EU’s main unifying ideology was the Green movement. At present it’s war with Russia.

The commentators also single out Britain’s last four prime ministers, noting that Covid plunged the UK into a deep recession from which it never recovered. They observe that British industry to continues to abandon Britain for the US and Asia. Also that covert intelligence activities (particularly the ability to start conflicts and arrange provocations) remains Britain’s most successful industry.

Boris Johnson – a cuddly buffoonish character who rode his bicycle everywhere and was forced to resign for “corruption” (mostly the parties he held during the Covid lockdowns).Liz Truss – apparently unable to grasp or explain basic political, economic or geographical concepts. When Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met with her as UK foreign secretary he described it “like the mute talking with the deaf.”Rishi Sumak – professional financier who lost interest in fixing the economy when he discovered he was incapable of fixing the British economy.Keith Starmer – extremely low approval rating.

The panelists also make the interesting assertion that Brexit was “a US project to split up Europe.”